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Greenbrier High School principal Chris Segraves wouldn’t provide many details, although he acknowledged that mismanagement of money from Wilkins’ baseball account are part of it.

Wilkins was warned in a memo dated June 26, 2012, that he could be fired if that mismanagement continued. The letter was included in his’ personnel file, released Tuesday by Columbia County officials after an open records request.

In the memo, Segraves admonished Wilkins regarding the baseball account’s negative 2011 balance of $2,687.76. Wilkins was chastised for “gross mismanagement of school funds” and lack of sound bookkeeping procedures being followed in 2012.

“I am greatly disturbed and disappointed that recommendations made to you – recommendations that would eliminate situations like this from occurring again – were not put into place and monitored as directed almost a year ago,” Segraves wrote.

After informing Wilkins that failure to fix the problem could impact his salary, Segraves added: “In addition, there will exist the possibility of you being relieved of your head coaching responsibilities.”

Segraves rejected suggestions that parental pressure or rumors about players being hazed during initiation rituals, were a factor in his decision. He also said the removal was not done in haste, and that there never were plans to dismiss Wilkins during the season.

“I am not going to sacrifice what the kids were working for,” Segraves said. “They were deep in the hunt in the playoff, and to have acted any sooner than I did would have jeopardized their success. I was not going to jeopardize any of the success for our players.”

Wilkins took over as head coach in 2009 and was 120-40 in five seasons, including back-to-back appearances in the state championship series in 2012 and 2013.

Attempts to reach Wilkins, who will still have a position as a health and physical education and social studies teacher at the high school, were unsuccessful.

In the interim, assistant coaches David Barnes and Mark Turner will take charge of the school’s summer league and baseball camp.

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After watching the school go through everything it has this year it appears that there is total "MISMANAGEMENT" going on at Greenbrier HS. The appearance that it is a few coaches and players is ridiculous. If the management of the school was properly managing the people responsible for the funds they would have been monitoring the situation long before it became a problem. It appears to me that the coach was basically given rope in which there was hope that he would hang himself if these allegations are true. The Athletic Director should have been monitoring the expenditures, and the the Principal who had already written a warning should have been following up on the progress. In college sports this year at Greenbrier HS they would have been found by the NCAA to have "Lost Institutional Control" of their program. Personally I think there is more stink to this situation than meets the eye, and full disclosure should be expected by the CCBOE if they are to be respected in this community.

Most places have budgets and a system to purchase items. Usually, a coach would fill out a requisition form and it would have to be approved by financial head. If they just gave the coach access to a credit card or check book then they are the ones to blame. It should never rest on one person to purchase items for a team or any other organization. An audit needs to be done about all of their financial practices. This seems real fishy to me that the coach would have access to do this much mismanagement.

Is the baseball program not self-funded by the boosters? If so, this is not "public" money but "booster" money...concessions has nothing to do with the school...that money is 100% parent sweat and blood...they should be the one's outraged if in fact there's any truth to the matter.

Or have we always known that corruption at any level is the result of "the love of money". Money that brings power and influence.

Remember the days when you were asked if you had ever taken even a pencil home from work. Out of control sick society. The entitlement culture is a equal opportunity employer. Red and yellow, black and white, male, female or in between, gay or lesbian don't make it right.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There were rumors around that the coach was bad mouthing some of his players to certain colleges also. He wanted certain players to go to certain colleges and other players not to. Don't see where that was his call either. That choice is between the college, the player and his parents.

"There were rumors around that the coach was bad mouthing some of his players to certain colleges"

I have no idea if this is true or not, but the bottom line is this -- if a player has enough talent, the college coaches will take them. Generally, the high school coach might be able to help a kid get a workout for a college coach, but after that, it's all about talent and academics. If kids want to play for a particular college, they shouldn't wait for the coach to get them a tryout. There are too many camps and college-scheduled workouts. It's up to the player to get in front of a college coach, and then show them that he's talented enough to play for that particular school. There's no reason to blame the coach.

if a player has enough talent, the college coaches will take them... "

Not so much. With the harsh penalties being handed down (finally) to school programs for off-field activities, schools are being a lot more proactive in weeding out bad actors for their programs. While the student athlete may be the 'next great thing', a word from the coach who's know him for four years the player may be more trouble than he's worth goes a long way.

dstewartsr,
I have noted that players often do more character damage to themselves than any coach could inflict. All you have to do is search names of local athletes on social media sites and you'll find enough to make any college coach apprehensive. While it is nothing new for high school students to make mistakes, it seems this generation likes to post evidence of their poor decisions online for the entire world to review. Word of advice to young people -- when it's online, it's there forever. It doesn't go away.

Is the number of scholarships allotted to College baseball programs. Rosters consist of 25-30 players, you do the math. The top prospects never come close to sniffing a college field, most sign out of High School. That leaves a HUGE pool of players who skills are only marginally different from one another on the baseball field. I have NO idea if the coach bad mouthed players or not, but to say his opinion to college coaches would not be greatly influential is simply not true. Universities don't want behavioral 'at-risk' players, it's not worth the trouble with so few scholarships and baseball doesn't generate enough money for the headache. Character and grades go into it more than most know when scholarships are involved. I hope ALL area coaches get a better grasp of the social media trash thst their players are putting out there, I don't think the players realize the implications. Now, football is a completely different story....